Louisville Metro Police Department

The year 2020 was a catalyst in confronting some of the economic and social disparities in the United States. One of the keystone events for the City of Louisville, Kentucky was the death of Breonna Taylor during a forced entry as part of a narcotics operations raid. The City of Louisville-Jefferson County Metro Government selected our legacy firm Hillard Heintze to provide a comprehensive assessment of the Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD).

We analyzed specific digital LMPD data sets to determine if there were disparate outcomes or biases based on the race or ethnicity of those who interacted with LMPD personnel. The LMPD collected and analyzed the data from 2018 and 2019 in three categories: traffic stops, investigative stops, and arrests.

We performed a general review and assessment of the LMPD’s policies, procedures and protocols and compared these with best or emerging practices in progressive law enforcement agencies nationally. We focused primarily on assessing the use-of-force and associated policies and training, search and arrest warrant planning and service, crowd control policies, procedures, protocols, and the associated training.

Also assessed were protocols for receiving, investigating, adjudicating and reporting complaints against LMPD personnel, community-oriented policing strategies and the associated training, recruitment, testing, backgrounding, hiring, and promoting LMPD personnel. We also reviewed the policies, tactics, and associated training procedures for de-escalation, crisis intervention, bias-free policing, and procedural justice.

Our assessment report presented a clear roadmap to help the LMPD establish a new policing environment in which the department and the community are equal partners in the coproduction of public safety.

The City has implemented recommendations from our team in order to rebuild the LMPD’s relationship with the communities in Louisville and the Metro region, increase public trust in the police and significantly improve morale, training, and job fulfillment for personnel across the department.